The first time I saw the NYPD's jack-booted thuggery . . .

[markpkessinger]

. . . was not in today's Occupy Wall Street protests. Nor was it at the 2004 GOP convention held here in NYC. In fact, it wasn't in the context of a protest at all, but rather a funeral vigil, in memory of Matthew Shepard, the young man brutally murdered in Laramie, Wyoming for no other reason than that he was gay. I witnessed many of the events in the link below first-hand, and my view of the NYPD has never been the same since. I was part of a group that got corralled onto 43rd Street (as described in the linked article). I watched as a phalanx of police in riot gear brutally forced their way into the crowd. I watched as mounted units charged into the crowd of peaceful, solemn marchers, wildly swinging their nightsticks at anyone within reach. And just as with the Occupy Wall Street protests, the event was virtually ignored by most of the media. So I can't say today's events are particularly surprising.

http://www.actupny.org/reports/Shepard.html

[Fire Walk With Me]

1. Damn...I am so sorry to hear that, and to have to say, it's also the first time I've heard that :(

Peace good sir.

[midnight]

2. K&R Change is long overdue...

[phasma ex machina]

3. It was founded of the thugs, by the thugs, for the thugs.

Blood in the Streets: The New York City Draft Riots

... Then there was the Astor Place Riot of May 10-11, 1849, which began - oddly enough - when supporters of American actor Edwin Forrest interrupted a performance by his English rival, William C. Macready. Protests over this brought out the police and militia, who killed at least 22 and wounded another 48 when they fired into a crowd that refused to disperse; between 50 and 70 policemen were wounded when the crowd fought back. Another twelve New Yorkers died in early July 1857 in further bloody clashes between Catholic and Protestant gangs.

Why weren’t the police able to maintain law and order? Well, the city police were by no means “New York’s Finest” as we know them today. In June 1857 there had been a police riot, when the state-controlled Metropolitan Police had violently clashed with the thoroughly corrupt but locally-raised Municipal Police, “each of equal strength and each regarding the other as an outlaw force,” as Ellis wrote, over who would rule the streets. The worst fighting was on the steps of City Hall, leaving hundreds bruised and bloody, twelve seriously injured, and one crippled for life. ...

[sabrina 1]

4. Interesting. The NYPD rioted on the steps of City Hall, egged on

by Giuliani, against then Mayor Dinkins, an African American Democrat. Again under Giuliani NY's finest murdered an African immigrant, Amadou Diallo, shooting him more than 40 times as he tried to enter his apartment. He was Black and all he had in his hand was his wallet. Giuliani defended them, as he always did no matter what they did.

They had a history of racism and that was the reason for Al Sharpton. Until he began raising a stink over the abuse of African Americans by the NYPD, it was basically encouraged. So, no matter what people may think of Al, he was a necessary voice to draw attention to and start to control the violence and abuse of the NYPD against African Americans.

Currently they are mired in two separate and major scandals. The NYPD Police Commissioner, Ray Kelly served in Vietnam as a Lieutenant and later joined the NG retiring as a Col. after 30 years. I think putting these military people in charge of the police has militarized Police Depts.

So, to anyone familiar with their history, this weeks brutality against peaceful protesters isn't a surprise.

[backscatter712]

5. The NYPD is nothing but utter fucking Nazi scum. n/t